The modeling industry these days come hand in hand with some unrealistic standards, so much so that it’s hard to believe that the runways used to be the territory of full bodied, healthy figured women. In our insane generation, it’s all about the youngest, the tallest and most importantly, the thinest of the lot. Some of today’s top models look less like adult women and more like fine featured science class skeletons. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sure, with the world’s finest of finery draping from their bodies, I mean bones, but the repercussions of this ideal has society are hideous and just plain tragic.

Ananda Marchildon was named Holland’s Next Top Model in 2008. The competition promised her a 3 year contract with close to R700,000.00 in arranged assignments – but then they fired her. Her modeling agency, Elite, the international group responsible for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Alessandra Ambrosio and Cara Delevinge, dropped Ananda for their firm belief that she had “a nice face but a fat ass”, due to her hip circumference being TWO CENTIMETERS wider than the NINETY CENTIMETERS they ALLOW. I’m sorry Elite, but who the feck died and made you God??

They deemed that because of those TWO CENTIMETERS, I reiterate, TWO CENTIMETERS, she wouldn’t look good on a runway and wouldn’t even fit in the sample-size clothes… so they attemepted to pay her off only with R91,000.00 which was short of what she had won and they were contractually obliged to pay her.

Ananda showed some major initiative and launched a lawsuit against the ‘high and almighty’ that are Elite, and she emerged victorius yesterday. The Amsterdam District Court ruled that she was entitled to the main prize she was originally guaranteed, awarding her R595,000.00 in damages along with interest and legal fees.

On Monday, before the verdict was reached, Ananda posed in a series of images for Dutch underwear manufactor Sloggi in an effort to reinforce her lawsuit. This was the perfect oppurtunity for both Sloggi, who call themselves the “butt experts”, and Ananda to really bare it all and show she has nothing to hide.

From what I can gather from the few images I’ve seen of the Sloggi campaign is that she is diametrically different from the vast majority of runway models. But why? Because she looks beautiful and healthy, not at all like a rag doll thats been hung up to dry or die.

4 responses to “Model that is “Too Fat” Wins a Lawsuit”

Don’t get your hopes up. The lawsuit was based upon whether the agency (Elite) that took over – but did NOT buy out – the failed agency that provided Marchildon’s contest prize was liable for paying her, even though she didn’t meet their standards. The courts ruled that they were.

It didn’t have anything to do with her weight or the agency’s dislike of it beyond the court saying that, since 92cm was OK with the defunct agency it had to be in her case OK with the new one as well.

That was the basis of the case actually. Modelmasters provided the prize contract to Holland’s Next Top Model but they folded. Elite DIDN’T take them over but DID sign all their models.

All the court did was say that Elite had de facto picked up Marchildon’s contract as well. It was more than a little bit of a grey area and I’m not sure that the implications of the court’s ruling won’t be bad in the long run.

In any case, the court didn’t care about Marchildon’s measurements one way or another and those measurements weren’t center to the actual court case.